New Delhi class 4 textbook 'teaches' kids to suffocate cats to death

Feb 10, 2017, 15:50 IST
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mid-day online correspondent

A textbook for children as small as 8-9 years in New Delhi and some parts of noth India have asked students to put a kitten in an unventilated box and wait for it to die to demonstrate that living beings cannot live without air

The textbook

A textbook for children as small as 8-9 years in New Delhi and some parts of noth India have asked students to put a kitten in an unventilated box and wait for it to die to demonstrate that living beings cannot live without air.

The textbook meant for Class 4 student reads, "No living thing can live without air for more than a few minutes. You can do an experiment. Take two wooden boxes. Make holes on the lid of one box. Put a small kitten in each box. Close the boxes. After some time open the boxes. What do you see? The kitten inside the box without holes has died."

The page in the textbook

This experiment is a part of the 4th grade curriculum in a reputed school in Delhi. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! pic.twitter.com/g6dwHNWqAD

The book titled 'Our Green World' by PP Publications is used to teach environmental science or EVS.

The objectionable 'experiment' After this was brought to their notice by a shocked parent a couple of months ago, publishers have stopped distribution of the book, said Parvesh Gupta of PP Publications.

"A parent had called us a couple of months ago and asked us to remove the text from the book because it was harmful for children. We recalled books from our distribution channel and will come out with a revised book next year," he told The Indian Express.

The friend of the author who shared the tweet to Women And Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi, who is reportedly looking into the matter.

Recently, a group of parents objected to the text and wrote to animal rights activists. Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) received a complaint, prompting the organisation to launch a formal protest against the publishers of the book.

"We spoke to the publishers and told them about the objectionable material. They agreed to discontinue the book and also said they would come out with a new edition for next year," Vidhi Matta, spokesperson, FIAPO told Indian Express.